I have been an Entrecard user from the point it had only about 100 members and am on my third blog registered with them, have been an avid dropper, purchased hundreds of ads and have kept up with what’s going on through the forums. I was active in the forums up until the crisis I mentioned above when just about anything anyone posted was attacked mercilessly and since then have kept my distance.

So what is Entrecard? It’s a free blog promotion service where ads are purchased through credits earned by members visiting other member blogs and clicking on the Entrecard badge. That’s it, plain and simple. Earn credits, buy ads, and then blog readers see the ad and hopefully for us, they click on it and visit your blog. It’s a great idea and if you have a worthwhile blog and badge to attract readers, you will get visitors. When Entrecard was young and growing, this was sustainable for the founders, but as it became popular and thousands of bloggers joined, it began to cost quite a lot of money to maintain. That in itself was the cause of the crisis Entrecard still suffers from and unfortunately will continue to suffer from.

Like any free blog promotion service, users have free access to a means to promote their blog and do so under the rules set out by the service. As bloggers getting a free ride, what right do we have to dictate how the service is run or restructured? None, none at all. The only way we would have any decision making power is if we had some financial investment in the service. This is where I believe the problem with Entrecard began. First, as it grew, it needed money to survive, then when the idea of paid ads came up, it was put to the users to weigh in on the idea. Wrong! If Entrecard wants to do something, just like any other service, they research the idea thoroughly and carefully and if they find it has great potential, they implement it. When the idea was thrown to us users, chaos was a given.

From that point on Entrecard was in serious trouble. The forums became a war zone where many users who felt they owned the service or that their opinion was the only right one literally attacked those who didn’t agree with their opinion. It was out of control and even moderators got into the fight rather than remain objective. With the forums the only meeting point for member to collectively communicate and opinions so widely varied, the true personality of some bloggers boiled to the surface in a scary or childish way. Profanity was rampant and some posts I felt were fighting material and would have ended in a bar room brawl if people were physically together.

The step taken was to restructure the forums and allow only those who had purchased 400 ads to be in this ‘exclusive’ club where the debate could continue in a more mature and controlled manner. Of course this infuriated people even more.

In the end, paid ads were allowed because remember, Entrecard needs money to survive. From here the protest continued with many members displaying their displeasure by adding small badges to their site saying things like ‘no paid ads’. Funny thing was that some of these even had spelling errors. I don’t really understand resistance to paid ads if the structure allows fair exposure of non paid ads and it should have never been put to the masses for our opinion. Entrecard wants it, they implement it. If I don’t like it, I quietly leave. One misconception has been that many users felt that if they left they would hurt Entrecard by leaving. These angry users often put up ridiculous posts on their own blogs ‘trashing’ Entrecard as if they had some sort of blogging power.

It is these posts that aggravate me. They often include statements saying that Entrecard really didn’t bring solid traffic to their blog and that the main traffic was from those who drop and run. These statements I have seen and continue to see quite often, but isn’t it true that if you drop cards, earn credits, purchase ads with an attractive ad, have a blog with good and interesting content, readers outside of Entrecard will click on your ad giving you traffic with substance. I have never bought into Entrecard as a service that will create Entrecard member traffic. I want traffic from beyond Entrecard and that, after purchasing an ad is entirely up to me, not Entrecard. I have a drop list that I use each day. These are blogs I chose because they were likely to return my drop and visa versa. The main goal dropping is to earn credits to purchase ads. During my drops if I happen to find blogs I was interested in reading and posting comments, I would, but that is not the goal of dropping, dropping is for credits. The purchased ad along with great content, social networking, etc will get me readers, not dropping. Now that return credits are no longer earned, who is on my drop list is not so important anymore.

Just today Entrecard announced they would be providing 15% of ad network inventory to sponsor ads. This is clearly a good business model and one that they have adopted as other free services have. I think this is a very good step in the right direction and one that should have been adopted by the previous ownership.

This is a standard business model used by free advertising networks. The revenues generated by our sponsors will help cover overhead expenses and keep our service free to all our members for years to come. To keep things simple and fair, all ads will be distributed evenly in our network.

To wrap things up, I believe the idea of Entrecard is a very good one. Previously some poor business decisions were made, but with good intentions. The resulting backlash was extremely overblown by many members most whom have left Entrecard. Basically saying “You screw me and I’ll screw you”. Entrecard may be better without them and their vanishing act won’t hurt Entrecard at all.

If you disagree with how a FREE service you belong to is being run, quietly leave if you wish. Your outlandish way of voicing your opinions on the forum and on you blog accomplishes nothing and really make you look like fools.

Of course this long winded post isn’t directed at all who have left the service nor is it directed at anyone who have left constructive opinions either in the forums or on their blogs.

Entrecard is not ours and we should remember that.

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For example today we went to a new place for lunch and were seated by a guy who spoke French of course and my wife who is bilingual English/French with French her first language acknowledged him in French that we would. He immediately seated us at a table yet to be cleaned (tray of plates and glasses, paper place mats, crumbs etc.), but when he heard me speak in English, he left us at this dirty table and as other people left he would immediately clean and reset those tables all the while ignoring us. After about 10 minutes of watching what what was going on, I got his attention and asked if it would be possible to have our table cleared of the previous customers’ dishes. He nodded and then forcefully grabbed the tray and then roughly crumpled the paper place mats up dumping all the crumbs on the table before leaving. I was getting a bit ‘ticked off’ and we talked about this a*& a bit and then after another 5 or 10 minutes and no new place setting or order taken we got up and left.

Strangely enough, there is the other side as we found out by talking to the desk clerk at a small hotel we stayed at in Beaune. One afternoon we stopped in at a cafe for lunch and were greeted nicely until my wife addressed them in French. From then on our treatment went down hill with angry looks, slow and rough service and inappropriate language to my wife and as you can guess, we left. As I mentioned earlier, we had a chat with the desk clerk at our hotel later at the bar and the answer to this strange treatment came up in conversation purely by accident. He was talking to us about the cross section of tourists that come through and at one point said that most locals don’t like it when their own people come to stay. He said they are usually rude to the cafe staff, hotel staff and shop staff and the town’s people would rather not have them. Now we concluded that back at that cafe, they may have taken us as French and given us the cold shoulder.

Please don’t get the wrong picture by this story, I love France and have visited many many places and regions in this wonderful country. After this trip ends, I hope to be able to come back soon and see even more. I would however would like to just say to the very small percentage of the population who has language issues ‘grow up’.

On that note, I have taken quite a few photos this past week and now I’ve put a few of them up for your enjoyment. Just click on any image to get a larger size. Unfortunately I have had to watermark the larger sized images because in the past years I have seen some of my photos appearing on other blogs. Sure, it’s a compliment, but no, they’re mine.

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Dangerous Offender:

The Dangerous Offender provisions of the Criminal Code are intended to protect all Canadians from the most dangerous violent and sexual predators in the country. Individuals convicted of these offenses can be designated as a Dangerous Offender during sentencing if it is shown that there is a significantly high risk that they will commit future violent or sexual offenses.
If the court finds an offender to be a dangerous offender, it shall impose a sentence of detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period.

Today the judge ruled that Walsh would not be considered a dangerous offender, but should receive a life sentence for the ‘murder’ of Anee Khudaverdian. This is not the first time that repeat drunk driving offenders have come up to the supreme court to determine weather this sort of offender should be deemed a dangerous offender. Each previous attempt, one in Alberta and one in Ontario have failed.

At a glance and by the letter of the law, Mr. Walsh wouldn’t be considered a dangerous offender and given that the judge has to make his/her decision based on the letter of the law, it may not have been possible to classify him as a dangerous offender. On the other hand, 19 impaired driving convictions means he has driven numerous times without a drivers license and insurance and has a complete disregard for the law. To go further, Mr Walsh has demonstrated by this that he has no respect for other human life and could care less about what others think about what he has done. Clearly given this, you would not be able to change the ways of this driver as has been shown and resulted in the death of an innocent woman.

Mr. Walsh also has 114 other convictions for such things as assault, break and enter and theft as well as uttering threats. Here is a man who shows he does have a pension for breaking the law and that the law isn’t for him. Assault and uttering threats as well as break and enter easily have violence attached to them and based on this alone he is a man any police officer would say ‘he could be armed and considered dangerous’.

I said earlier in this post that I have to respect the judge’s decision because he is only delivering it based on the letter of the law and if this offender fits into it. Alberta tried it and failed, and Ontario tried it and failed so it was fairly obvious that Quebec would fail as well. Impaired driving is a serious offense and is considered so in Canada. Drive drunk and you pay severely, but when it comes to repeat offenders like Mr. Walsh, the law fails. The only way a repeat offender of this type who has killed someone would ever be designated a dangerous offender would be if the law was amended or rewritten so that these type of offenses could be included. If not, there will continue to be many many other repeat impaired driving offenders out there ready to run down an innocent person.

Isn’t it about time we respect the the lives of the people on the streets? If this law doesn’t get amended or rewritten altogether I will continue to feel it is open season on innocent drivers and pedestrians.

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Anyway, this trip we are only in Paris for a couple of days before grabbing a car and driving to Chamonix so we don’t have a lot of time. That’s ok because we did an incredible amount on our last visit including stopping at my favorite street, Avenue des Champs Elysees. At one end you have the Arc de Triomphe and way down at the other end the Place de la Concorde with the fontaine, Hotel de Crillon and Église de la Madeleine (Madeleine Church).

In between is the wide tree lined cobblestone street of Champs Elysees filled with cafes and high end shops like Cartier, Omega, Lacoste, and Louis Vuitton, through to the car showrooms of Mercedes, Peugeot, and Renault Sport which boasts 2.5 million visitors a year.

During the year it also is the home of some important events to France like the Bastille Day celebrations and of course it is the scene of stage 21, the final stage of the Tour de France (one of my favorite events in July).

So what could I possible have to say that is wrong with this scene? McDonald’s Restaurant!

This famous street has everything including this horrible blemish of a fast food joint I could find anywhere (very unfortunately) in North America. This most unhealthy fast food giant is scarring this famous street and calling itself McCafe of all things.

Now, I’m not against the North American market entering into Europe at all. I don’t care if McDonald’s wants to set up shop in France or any other European country for that matter, but I do draw the line at specifics. The Champs Elysees is no place for a fast food joint like McDonald’s and the people at McDonald’s who are responsible for locating their franchises in Europe aught to be ashamed of themselves for choosing this avenue. They aren’t the only ones who should be ashamed, the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë should also be ashamed. The Champs Elysees has it’s own brand of culture from clothing to jewelery, to cafes and night life. It is a street visited by celebrities of all walks, a street with history and stature and to allow unhealthy North American fast food joints to line this street is shameful at best.

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The guy who was attempting to help me out in the first store I visited was dumbfounded that I would even think they would stock brakes for inline skates, but offered to go into the service area and try and make one for me. What? Are you kidding me?

My point is that sure my brake wore out, but I naturally thought that because I could easily find them for my previous skates, I would be able to find them again for an even more popular brand. I didn’t even consider that I may have to order them online and that I should have done that before it wore out so I wouldn’t be stuck not being able to skate. Now, I have had to order them online and wait for delivery all the while setting the blades aside.

This to me doesn’t make any sense. I can see that if the skate failed in some way like a rivet broke or even the break housing snapped, then maybe you would have to order those parts, but a part that is assumed to wear out and definitely needs to be replaced is something that should be stocked in a store specializing in this.

Yes, the end result of my futile travels was to order a brake online. No, not one but 4. This way I won’t have to worry about it for a long time.

Here’s another one I file under Just Dumb

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The photo appeared in it’s original state on Microsoft’s US site, but it’s Polish site showed the altered version. Poland’s population is over 90% white and in what is speculated as that they were just attempting to show what is normal in Poland. Since that time Microsoft says the persons responsible for the altered photo have left the company (hmm).

Reactions to this image are coming in fast and furious now forcing Microsoft to apologize for the ‘intentional’ error’ and it’s only a matter of time before anti racial groups jump on the bandwaggon asking for heads to roll at Microsoft. Fact is, this happens all the time. I have seen it before and read about it before and before writing this I did a few searches on the topic of racial photo altering and it’s pretty rampant.

“We apologize and are in the process of pulling down the image,”

Later, a spokeswoman for Microsoft in Poland said that the doctoring was a “simple mistake” and was not racially motivated.

Was it a simple mistake? No it wasn’t. As I said, Poland has a very very small black population and are depicting what is normal in their society. Depicting racism probably wasn’t on their mind, but it is clear that not a lot of thought towards what the repercussions might be was done before doctoring the image. This type of thing isn’t acceptable and for a spokeswoman to call it a simple mistake is once again publicly denying responsibility.

By the way, what kind of laptop does he have? Isn’t that a MacBook with the logo photoshoped out?

I file this under Just Dumb

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A horrific tragedy took place as hurricane Bill passed by off the Maine coastline when a large group of people gathered at Acadia National Park to take in the spectacle. The crowd was too close and when a large and powerful wave crashed in, it took a number of people including a family of 3 out to sea. Unfortunately a 7 year old girl was pulled out of the water dead by the US Coastguard. Her mother and father were rescued alive, mother sustaining injuries she will recover fully from.

It’s always a huge tragedy when a child is killed, and an even bigger tragedy when it is entirely and easily avoidable. Acadia National Park has 15 miles of coastline and signs warning of dangerous surf were posted and Sand beach along with Thunder Hole were blocked off. This only served to push people further along and into undeveloped areas that were not patrolled. When officials state things like this it makes me cringe because it gives the feel of excuses. A hurricane was forecast to move past the area off shore and with it create some huge waves. This is something that was known in advance and park rangers as well as police should have patrolled the area on foot to prevent anyone from entering the area. In countries that have experience with hurricanes this is done regularly and with great success, so why not here. My experience with Hurricane Wilma was quite the learning experience. I spent the 2 days prior to landfall of the hurricane watching how the Mexican authorities, resort staff, police, and military put an extensive emergency plan into action. It was flawless and the safety of every tourist was first and foremost. The miles of beach were completely off limits 12 hours before landfall and guarded by police and military wherever you looked.

The US has a history of poor hurricane emergency management and the resulting large number of related deaths have been headline news for years. Maybe it would be a good thing to look to countries like Mexico and the Caribbean countries for assistance.

I file this one under Just Dumb.

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I decided to add this into RealityTalkBlog so you can rate my stories. This way I can get an idea of what is good, what is ok, and what stinks. I can also see what topics most interest you. This is of course of your choice, but I hope you will try and use it.

I also added it to the comments section in the form of a thumbs up or thumbs down. I’m not sure how many people would like their comments rated so I’m adding this for a trial and maybe some feedback.

Thanx for listening, I’m done.

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I follow the rules of crosswalks and traffic lights by slowing right down, looking over my shoulder to see who might be planning a turn from behind me, I look to the left out onto the main road to see who may be coming through and I look down the road I’m crossing to see if anyone is coming from that way. If it is a red light for me, I stop and wait for it to go green before I cross and continue on my way. I skate pretty fast and am very proficient on the blades, but as you can see when it comes to cars, I play if very safe and play by the rules. I wear ear phones and listen to my iPod, but the volume is low enough that I can hear the traffic and not get caught up in my music. Once again, I play it safe. I wish I could say the same for the majority, yes majority of drivers I meet when crossing the roads.

Last summer I coasted out of my driveway and onto the road in my quiet subdivision, crossed to the other side of the road and turned left on my way to the track which is just a couple of hundred metres up the road. When I left my driveway I had checked both directions to see if any cars were coming first and seeing on one at all I was on my way. I stayed on the left hand side of the road and skated along. Soon I heard a car coming up from behind me and checked over my shoulder. I assumed the car would go by me as I was hugging the curb and not out in the lane. Well, that didn’t happen. The next thing I know I am hit from behind and thrown onto the road in front of the car. Ouch, that hurt, but I got to my knees and looked directly in the eyes of the driver who was a 20 something girl with her cell phone on and in her hand. I was furious! I screamed at her as I got up to see if I was ok and then with adrenaline flowing continued on my way. My left knee hurt, but at that time, not enough to stop skating which is what I wanted to do. I also just wanted to get away from that sniveling woman with the cell phone still in her hand. No I didn’t stay and call the police which I don’t regret to this day. I skated in pain for another 4k until I had to give up and go home. By the next day I was unable to walk and after a visit to the ER I found out I had fractured my leg. That ended my rollerblading for the rest of that year.

I was careful before the accident, but now I am extremely aware of the cars I come in contact with and am astounded each time I go out at the complete disregard for safety and common sense from most of them. Each and every day I see example after example of drivers who simply don’t care and consider themselves as ‘owning the road’. I see women doing makeup, drivers constantly on their cell phone, drivers texting, and eating. Even if a driver is not doing any of these things I watch time and time again as they pull up to the intersection, look down the street and pull right up onto the crosswalk without looking to see if a walker, cyclist, jogger, or rollerblader is there.

People, a crosswalk isn’t for parking your car on, it’s for pedestrians and pedestrians only. I shouldn’t have to slow to a crawl and almost come to a stop in the middle of the crosswalk because I cannot trust a car to stop before the crosswalk. I have to so there is a problem. Give this a try, stop before the crosswalk and look down the road you want to turn onto. Then when you are sure there is no pedestrians around, pull forward and onto the crosswalk and look down the road once again. Chances are the view is just the same as when you stopped before the crosswalk.

When I approach my crossing point and I see someone blatantly stop on the crosswalk, I try and do a little education. I usually point to the crosswalk and look at them. Seems harmless and something I have every right to to. Not according to these drivers. I have been sworn at, spit at and honked at with no provocation on my part. I simply do not have to go around you and out into the intersection just to cross the road; the law says so.

Keep in mind that if you hit someone crossing the road on a crosswalk, it is you and not the pedestrian who will be in trouble. You may injure them or even kill them and then face the law you so blatently thumbed your nose at.

I will then get the last laugh.

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Here’s the timeline as taken from CBC News:

May 21 she tries to leave Kenya after her two week visit but Kenya immigration officials prevented her from boarding her flight saying that she did not look like the photo in her Canadian Passport. Apparently it was her lips that looked different.

May 22 The High Commission of Canada in Nairobi takes and voids her passport, despite her producing her Canadian driver’s licence (photo identification), fingerprints and other documents.

May 28 After spending eight days in a Kenyan jail,she is released on bail. Liliane Khadour, the Canadian High Commission’s first secretary, tells Kenyan government officials a thorough investigation has determined Mohamud is an impostor and recommends that she be prosecuted. She is then charged with identity fraud and would spend parts of the next 2½ months living in Nairobi slum hotels.

July 22 The Canadian government, after negotiating a settlement to a Federal Court motion filed by Mohamud’s lawyer, Raoul Boulakia, agrees to ask Kenyan authorities to delay her trial until a DNA test can be conducted to confirm her identity.

July 24: After the Kenyan government agrees to delay Mohamud’s trial, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon tells reporters in Ottawa

“there is no tangible proof” Mohamud is Canadian.
“All Canadians who hold passports generally have a picture that is identical in their passport to what they claim to be,”

(absolute nonsense, just change your hair or grow a beard and you are now someone else)

July 29: Mohamud’s former husband, Hussein Asbscir, and her son, Mohamed Hussein, 12, submit to DNA testing in order to help resolve her case.

Aug. 10: The results of a DNA test conducted on Mohamud are released and confirm her identity. The test results show there’s a 99.99 per cent chance that she is the mother of her son in Toronto, Boulakia says.

Aug. 11: A day after the DNA test results emerge, the Canadian Border Services Agency says it is working on issuing Mohamud emergency travel documents so she can return to Canada. Spokeswoman Tracie LeBlanc declines to specify whether the documents include an emergency passport or when Mohamud would return.

Aug. 12: Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the federal government has “no excuse” for failing to come to Mohamud’s aid, saying there’s something “fundamentally wrong” when Ottawa can’t be counted on to stand up for Canadians.

The Foreign Affairs spokesperson says the Canadian government has asked Kenyan authorities to drop the charges against Mohamud. Kenyan officials say a motion to drop the charges will be filed on Aug. 14.

Aug. 13: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had yet to publicly comment on the case, tells reporters that the government’s priorities are now “to see her get on a flight back to Canada.”

It actually took this long to verify her identity! This woman produced all sorts of legal documents to prove her identity and was still ignored. I can understand that if an official cannot verify your identity through your passport photo that you may at the very least delayed. When you are genuinely shocked and eagerly produce many other forms of identification confirming your identity including your family back in Canada, that alone should raise a flag that maybe you are who you profess to be. From that point on the investigation should move in the direction of proving that you are who you are rather than proving you are not who you are.

It gets better as on May 28 Liliane Khadour, the Canadian High Commission’s first secretary, tells Kenyan government officials a thorough investigation has determined Mohamud is an impostor and recommends that she be prosecuted.

This story should be a wake up call for all Canadians traveling abroad. If you get into any trouble will the Canadian government do anything to help you? It appears not. Not only will they not help you, but in this case literally hand you over to foreign authorities to be placed under arrest. I have seen this woman’s picture on the news and with it her passport photo and although she is wearing what appears to be a hijab in her passport photo, I did not have any difficulty recognizing her in that photo.

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